The City of Evansville is fondly referred to by its residents as "River City." With a broad and diverse economy, the Port of Evansville has two universities with a large college-age population. In 2004, the National Civic League honored the Port of Evansville as an "All-American City" and, in 2008, the readers of Kiplinger voted the Port of Evansville the best city in the USA in which to work, play, and live.

The Port of Evansville has a humid subtropical climate with hot humid summers and cold winters. The Port of Evansville is one of the Midwest's few cities that have passed whole winter seasons without measurable snowfall. Temperatures range from an average high of 32°C (89°F) in July to an average low of -5°C (22.6°F) in January. The Port of Evansville gets about 44 inches of rain a year, mainly from March through November. It also gets about 14 inches of snow each year, with most of that falling in January and February.

One of the most popular attractions in the Port of Evansville is the Casino Aztar, a 2700-passenger riverboat casino with a 250-room hotel as well as restaurants and shops and a riverfront pavilion. Casino Aztar offers slots and video poker as well as table games like blackjack, roulette, and craps. Hoosier's Lounge presents live entertainment seven nights a week, and the sophisticated Blush Ultralounge brings nightclub life to the Port of Evansville riverfront.

History and archeology buffs will want to visit the Angel Mounds State Historic Site. Located some 12 kilometers (7 miles) east-southeast of the Port of Evansville on the Ohio River, this 100-acre site contains the remains of Native American mounds and the reconstructed stockade that once surrounded the village. Angel Mounds was the biggest indigenous community in the future State of Indiana from 1100 to 1450 AD. Recognized across the Nation as one of the best-preserved pre-Columbian sites in the United States, a new model museum tells the story of the Middle Mississippian culture that populated the area.

Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden in the Port of Evansville offers a collection of more than 700 animals from Australia, Asia, Africa, South America, and North America. The zoo and garden covers 50 acres of rolling hills. The Zoo boasts the oldest hippopotamus in captivity in the United States. It also houses zebras, lions, giraffes, and river otters. The world-class and very popular Amazonia exhibit focuses on South American plants and animals. The zoo also contains a wide variety of regional and exotic botanical species ranging from trees to tropical plants to spring bulbs.